‘Not a done deal’: Waukegan residents push back against casino while supporters push for proposal backed by business that fueled local elections

Mt. Zion Missionary Baptist Church Pastor Arthur Gass, who also heads up the Black Chamber of Commerce of Lake County, urges the Waukegan City Council Monday evening to recommend Warner Gaming and Michael Bond's proposed North Point Casino to the state. (Emily K. Coleman/Lake County News-Sun)

The proposed Waukegan casino dominated the City Council meeting Monday evening with most residents expressing their opposition while several business owners and community leaders pushed for Tap Room Gaming owner and former state Sen. Michael Bond to be the developer.

A casino is “not a done deal,” said Waukegan resident and frequent volunteer Diane Verratti, echoing a phrase used by several of the 13 casino opponents who spoke Monday evening.

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“We are not that desperate,” Verratti said. “We deserve leaders who are able to think for themselves and on behalf of all of us, figure out how to bring smart, sustainable and suitable development to Waukegan.”

Like several opponents, Verratti raised concerns about the level of spending tied to Bond and Tap Room Gaming in the recent aldermanic elections and pointed to the ongoing campaign promoting a North Point Casino proposal backed by Bond and Warner Gaming.

North Point Casino’s promotional campaign has included Facebook ads, a website detailing the proposed development and a series of public endorsements, including from the Black Chamber of Commerce of Lake County and the Lake County Building and Construction Trades Council.

A team that includes Warner Gaming and Tap Room Gaming owner Michael Bond has submitted a proposal to the city of Waukegan to build a development centered on a casino they would name North Point Casino. (Lakeside Casino LLC)

“We do know a casino will be coming to Waukegan, a reality that the community must accept,” said Mt. Zion Missionary Baptist Church Pastor Arthur Gass, who also heads up the Black Chamber of Commerce of Lake County.

Gass said he’s opposed to gambling, but if a casino is coming, his focus has to shift to ensuring diversity and Waukegan residents are given priority in hiring.

That’s why he said his organization was endorsing the North Point Casino proposal, which he urged the Waukegan City Council to recommend to the state as the city’s sole choice instead of choosing two to four proposals, as Mayor Sam Cunningham has said the city plans to do.

So far, the city itself has only released the number of proposals it has received, not the names of the developers or what their proposals entail.

Three of the six development teams have released information on their own: North Point Casino, Potawatomi Hotel & Casino and, as of this week, Las Vegas-based Full House Resort’s American Place.

Like North Point Casino, American Place has launched a website touting its proposal, which would include a 75,000-square-foot casino, a high-end boutique hotel with a helipad and private entrance, and a 1,500-seat entertainment center that can host concerts, conferences and private events.

Part of the challenge right now in releasing more information is figuring out what is public and what’s not, attorney Bob Long said, pointing as an example to one potential developer who claimed its entire application was confidential.

The aldermen have been offered access to the proposals, but they have to go into City Hall to view them and they cannot take notes or get copies, Cunningham said. Staff also cannot make copies.

Staffers are in the process of vetting the proposals and putting together a short list of finalists that will be released around Aug. 26, according to city staff. Interviews with the remaining candidates are set to follow after Labor Day, with a public hearing planned for late September.

The finalists, chosen by the Waukegan City Council at a later meeting, will then be forwarded on to the Illinois Gaming Board. The city’s deadline to make those recommendations is Oct. 25.

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Las Vegas-based Full House Resort’s American Place has proposed a 75,000-square-foot casino, a high-end boutique hotel with a helipad and private entrance, and a 1,500-seat entertainment center that can host concerts, conferences and private events. (HANDOUT)

That plan has not changed despite a reoccurring request from North Point Casino supporters — who also included the owners of Austin’s Saloon & Steakhouse in Libertyville, La Canoa in Waukegan and Integrity Developers, also in Waukegan — to recommend just North Point Casino to the state.

The city could not choose a single developer if it wanted to, city attorney Bob Long said.

“They want to believe it’s possible,” Long said when asked why Bond and his supporters have still made the push. “There’s no better answer.”

If the city did try to send a single choice to the state, it would risk the Illinois Gaming Board rejecting the bids and then either open up the process again — completely run by them — or perhaps selecting another community to host the casino, Long added.

Cunningham, who also received donations from Bond’s Tap Room Gaming during his mayoral campaign, said he’s stayed completely out of the selection process and has tasked city staff — and now a newly hired consultant, Chicago-based C.H. Johnson Consulting — with recommending “the best product for Waukegan.”

The consulting firm, hired Monday evening on a $45,000 contract, was picked because it did not have any conflicts of interest with the potential developers and it had worked in Waukegan before and so is familiar with the community, Cunningham said.

An outside firm is needed because staff doesn’t have the expertise to assess the underlying assumptions behind the financial projections so that the city can compare the various proposals, Long said.

Ald. Ann Taylor, 9th, said she also wanted to an outside feasibility study that assessed whether a casino made sense for Waukegan, what the potential impacts would be for video gambling license holders in the city, and how much the casino could cost the city in terms of police and fire services.

The city will ask the consulting firm whether that’s something it could also handle or whether it would recommend another firm to take on that work, Cunningham said.

But Cunningham also questioned whether the problem some aldermen and residents had with a casino had less to do with the project itself and more to do with Bond.

“Is it really anti-Michael Bond or anti-the project?” Cunningham said. “If it’s anti-Michael Bond, then you’re not being the leaders that I need you to be. In this business, we’ve all got feelings that we don’t like, but you’re supposed to do what’s in the best interest for Waukegan.”